DWP Opens Treatment Facility to Serve Valley

Reaching a major milestone in efforts to clean San Fernando Basin water, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power opened a new treatment facility in Atwater on Wednesday.

The plant will remove trichloroethylene and other contaminants found in industrial solvents from the ground-water basin that extends from the northern San Fernando Valley to the Pollock Wells in Atwater.

“The entire San Fernando Valley drains down into the basin and this is the southern terminus,” said Ernest Wong, a DWP waterworks engineer.

The treatment plant will make available 2,400 acre-feet of water a year from the 90,000 acre-foot basin, water that would cost about $1 million to buy elsewhere, DWP officials said.

The San Fernando Basin provides about 15% of Los Angeles’ total water supply--or enough to supply 500,000 people, the agency said.

The Pollock Wells at the southern end of the basin were shut down in the early 1980s because of contamination, some of which is thought to have come from former industrial plants in the area, officials said.

Mel Blevins, San Fernando Valley water master, said the $3.8-million facility is another important step in making basin water available.

“I am pleased that the DWP has provided the means to restore the pumping of Pollock Wells and eliminating the waste of nearly 3% of Los Angeles’ entire San Fernando Basin [holdings],” Blevins said.

Officials with the federal Environmental Protection Agency were also on hand for opening of the treatment plant and wells.

David Seter of the EPA commended the DWP for “its leadership role in investigation and cleanup of ground-water contamination in the San Fernando Valley.”